Tokyo Metro Responds to Viral 26 Million View Post About Folding Train Tickets

“I wanted to take home a ticket to commemorate my visit to Tokyo.”

A simple everyday incident posted on X has sparked a storm of debate.

On August 17, an X user shared a photo of a Tokyo Metro ticket costing 210 yen, writing:

“I said I wanted to keep it as a souvenir, and they handed it to me folded while asking, ‘Why?’ Tokyo really is scary.”

The user appears to live in Nagoya and likely rode the train using a traditional paper ticket as a memento of their visit to Tokyo. When they asked to keep the ticket at the station, the staff folded it halfway, as shown in the photo.

In the comments, some explained that tickets are folded to prevent misuse when allowing passengers to take them home. However, the poster responded:

“Folding the ticket happens after the usual handling (stamping with an invalidation mark and punching a hole). From the perspective of preventing misuse, simply folding it hardly matters.”

Indeed, other users posted past photos showing Tokyo Metro tickets with invalidation stamps, noting:

“Tokyo Metro should have invalidation stamps or scissors this is terrible.”

“I always thought station staff were gentle, but I didn’t expect someone to do this.”

On the other hand, some argued against blaming Tokyo:

“Is this really about Tokyo? It seems like unfair reputational damage and it’s sad.”

An IT journalist commented:

“They probably posted on X because they were shocked by the station staff’s behavior. In general, in today’s world where people can post anonymously, you never really know what’s true. Some people even set things up to make posts go viral. The truth of this post is unclear, but it has already gone massively viral, reaching around 20 million impressions in just one day.”

As of August 21, the post has surpassed 26 million impressions. After it went viral, the poster commented:

“I’m the type who feels uneasy criticizing others for attention, so please just think of this as a ‘slightly surprising’ story.”

Following this, our site reached out to Tokyo Metro to ask about the ticket folding post.

The used ticket must be handed over to a staff member in accordance with the terms and conditions of the transportation agreement.

Q: Are you aware that the “ticket folding” post is currently trending on X and other social media?

A: “We are aware that it has been posted on social media.”

Q: Is it true, as the post claims, that a station staff member folded the ticket?

A: “We have not been able to verify the facts of the reported incident.”

Q: Do station staff ever fold tickets when handing them to customers for purposes such as preventing misuse?

A: “According to our transport terms, used tickets are to be handed over to staff. If a customer requests to take a ticket home, we may provide it depending on the situation. In such cases, a stamp indicating the ticket is invalid is applied. To prevent the ink from getting on the customer’s hands or clothing, the ticket may be lightly folded before being handed over.”

Tokyo Metro’s response revealed that tickets are sometimes folded out of consideration for the customer, to prevent ink from transferring. This small everyday action being viewed over 20 million times highlights just how far-reaching even minor incidents can become in the age of social media.